Second Glance
by EerieAlice
Summary: Chris Bradley otherwise known as Bolt, used to be in one of the most powerful mutant army groups in the US. After it broke down, he lives a new listless life, working behind a funfair stall in the middle of Ohio. He needs a new change, until someone walks by and takes notice. Inspired by Dominic Monaghan's performance in Wolverine: Origins, one shot piece.


A/N: I don't own the X-Men franchise, just a fan writing some fiction in some spare time with a dose of inspiration. I got this idea from watching _Wolverine: Origins,_ particularly Dominic Monaghan's underrated scenes and I loved the little part between him and the young woman at the fair. So, I thought about what we could've seen if the camera had followed him and here is my result. I hope you like it, let me know what you thought of it, happy reading. –EA.

Second Glance

The funfair was hoarded with customers in Springfield Ohio; there was this exciting buzz in the air. The spinning cups whizzed and the carousel chimed. Right at the moment, a young couple laughed as they tried to throw the balls into the moving clowns' mouths in order to win a prize.

Lillie and her boyfriend Callum of two months raced along the pathways, through the happy crowds. They walked around the corner and Lillie caught sight of the stand that wasn't having much luck. But it wasn't just the stand; it was also the young man behind the desk that caught her attention. He looked bored, switching the large light bulb on and off. His face was swarthy and his head was shaved like he'd been in the army. Callum dragged her in another direction but she could no longer contain her curiosity.

"Hey, what do you do?" Lillie asked, walking towards the bulb stand.

The young man looked up at her and swayed, clicking into work mode.

"If you turn off the light you win a prize," he said. The young man had an English accent, she'd never seen anyone in real life from England before, only on television. "Three tries for a buck."

Lillie looked back at Callum but he didn't seem happy. "Come on I want to do it," she told him. Her boyfriend huffed and handed the money over to her reluctantly. Lillie quickly passed it to the man on the stand and began to think of how she could turn the bulb off.

Lillie chose logically, and flicked the switch, but it didn't go off. She looked at the man behind the desk and he stared at her. Lillie realised there had to be some sort of jinx and she smirked at him. "Well that's obvious," she said and pulled the cable connecting the box to the bulb. But the light _still_ hadn't turned off.

"That's two," the young man teased.

Callum barged past her and twisted the bulb out from the connection. Ridiculously, the light was still on, Lillie noticed the man's gaze fixed on the bulb. The light grew in power and it must've burned Callum's fingers as he dropped the bulb and it shattered on the desk.

"That's a stupid trick," Callum told him.

The young man shrugged. "It's not a trick man."

"Come on," Callum said and grabbed Lillie's hand. "Freak."

"Bye," the young man said and he waved at Lillie as she was being pulled away.

Callum led her through the crowds filing their way out of the fair. Lillie turned her head trying to steal a glance at the guy on the bulb stand, but with the speed of the crowds, she couldn't see him anymore. Lillie turned back to her boyfriend and noticed the annoyance in his expression and it vexed at her innards.

Lillie yanked her hand from his, rounding on him. "What_ is_ your problem?"

"What Lils?" Callum asked. "The guy was a jerk."

"He was doing his job, you were the one being a jerk, you didn't need to call him a freak."

Callum frowned. "So what? He's nothing, he was being cocky, he was flirting with you, trying to look like he was better than me."

"How was he flirting with me Cal? He's an illusionist. The whole thing with the bulb was an illusion."

"Yeah I got that, so what's with your outburst then? What is the point to this conversation?"

"You were horrible to him, that's what I didn't like."

"You know what, I don't need this," Callum said and he walked away from her. "I've got plenty of girls waiting for me, we're over Lils."

"Callum wait!" she shouted but he stomped through the sea of people. Lillie tried shouting again but she could no longer see him.

Bradley yawned and checked his watch, only one hour left before he could close his stand and head off to his trailer. In fact, Bradley glanced at his watch again.

_Bugger it,_ he thought. _Nobody else is coming tonight, I'm closing right now._ And that is what he exactly did; he turned off the power (just with one thought), pulled the curtain down and trudged away from his stall. He worked on commission anyway and had made two hundred dollars that night. He giggled as he walked along the pathway; people had tried their hardest to turn off the light. He'd played with them so much that one guy had paid for ten attempts and the money he'd dished out went straight in Bradley's pocket.

He heard the screams of the people on the spinning cups ride and then a light cry. He turned to the source of the sound and he couldn't help but smile. It was that pretty girl with the white blonde hair, the one with that bastard of a boyfriend.

"You okay?" Bradley asked.

The girl wiped her tears away and looked up at him, a little startled. "Oh, yeah – I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me."

"You don't look fine," Bradley replied.

The girl laughed nervously. "I'm alright really."

"You sure?"

The girl nodded.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Bradley asked.

"He's gone, he's not my boyfriend anymore."

"Sorry about that."

"It's nothing," the girl shrugged. "He was an idiot."

"He was a dickhead," Bradley said.

The girl laughed and her face lit up, Bradley grinned at her reaction. "What you doing here by yourself then?"

"Just wanted some space," she replied, "can't go home with my make up streaked like a skunk."

He smiled. "What's your name?"

"Lillie," she said. "What's yours?"

"Bradley."

"Nice to meet you," she said and offered her hand out to him. Bradley stared at her hand, contemplating his actions and then his skin touched hers. She gasped and her eyes jolted to his.

"You okay?" Bradley asked.

Lillie's hand fell to her side. "Nothing, nothing, I think I just felt...no, it's nothing."

"You doing anything tonight Lillie?"

"Going home and sleeping," she said and laughed again. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Thought I'd buy you a drink if you have the time," Bradley said, stroking the ball of his foot along the ground.

Lillie's lips pouted in thought and then she nodded. "Sure, you lead the way."

They walked along the pathways, chatted about their lives, in half an hour they both learned alot about each other. Their childhoods, families, schools, their personal tastes, you name it. Lillie had forgotten how much she'd laughed so hard, tears had flowed down her face.

"Do you want to have a go on The Funhouse ride?" Bradley asked as they walked around the fair.

Lillie stopped in front of the clown's mouth, the entrance to the ride. They entered, the corridors descended into darkness and the walls curled around until they both entered the mirror maze. Lillie laughed and ran around the maze, the lights kept switching on and off.

"Are you doing this?" she asked.

"Doing what?" Bradley said as he joined her.

"The lights."

"Do you think I am?" Bradley smirked.

"I...I don't know."

"There's electricity everywhere," Bradley said as he walked towards her. "Even our bodies create it."

Lillie glanced to her hand, the one he'd shook and she remembered how it felt. A warm jolt through her skin and it flowed through her veins. "It wasn't a trick," she said and Bradley listened, leaning up against one of the mirrors. "Turning off the bulb, it wasn't an illusion either, you kept it on the whole time."

"I've been waiting all night for you to say that," Bradley beamed.

Lillie laughed breathlessly. "Wow, I knew there was _something _about you." She looked at her hand and a thought rippled to the surface. "What else can you do?"

Bradley moved away from the mirror and the lights above her head flickered on and off. As the lights would flick on, Bradley came closer to her. Lillie watched the dazzling lights, she backed up against the mirror and Bradley was a breathe space from her.

"There's something else I can do," he whispered and stroked his mouth against hers. Lillie responded, kissing him back and wound her arms around his neck. Bradley slowly opened her lips, and rolled his tongue into her mouth. As the kiss became deeper, Lillie's tongue tingled with warmth and the sensation echoed down her spine. From above their heads the light grew more intense, from a flicker to an intense glow. As Bradley and Lille's lips worked, the glow grew and burst, showering the two and they broke apart from one another. Lillie held her heart as the final bursts fizzed, she looked over at Bradley who smiled back at her. Sometimes, these things didn't just happen.

Midnight had finally come and Bradley closed the doors of his trailer. He waved his fingers and the train set laced along the shelves of his trailer buzzed to life and began to charge. He downed the glass of whisky and winked at the mechanical toy, its eye twitched and began to jolt in its sequence. He relaxed, feeling the knots in his limbs uncoil and then he thought of Lillie. He'd only spent one hour in her company, yet he felt he could tell her anything, like he'd known her all his life. She didn't run in fear when he made the lights blink in the funhouse, so many of the others had. She didn't feel challenged by him either; she'd been the only one that had taken an honest interest in him. He remembered that lingering stare she gave him when her arsehole of an ex-boyfriend dragged her away. Then he realised, what was he now to her? A boyfriend? Her lover? Maybe he wasn't any of those things, maybe he wouldn't see her again – and that frightened him.

The loud knock on his trailer door disturbed his thoughts. "Show's over," he shouted.

The knock came again; Bradley got up and yanked the door open. "I said, the show's over!"

He stared up at the looming menacing presence of Victor Creed, he was a whole foot and half taller than him.

"The show's never over for us Bradley," his old friend said.

Everything around him stopped clicking and moving, it just stopped in routine.

"Victor," Bradley said.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Yeah come on in," Bradley said nervously and moved deeper into his trailer. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs.

Victor Creed stepped inside; he could've easily shunted the vehicle to one side with his weight. He glanced at the bulbs hanging from Bradley's ceiling and tapped one of them with his long and rather sharp fingernail.

"You know I've never said anything to anyone about what happened," Bradley said. "I'm living a totally different life now Victor, no need to bring up the past."

Victor grabbed one of the bulbs and pulled it from the ceiling. The light was still on, Bradley noticed Victor's nails grow longer, sharper and more deadly. Then the light flickered off, Victor's eyes darkened and his mouth curled into a sinister smirk.

_I'm sorry Lillie. _

"You know, I always thought it be Wade that would come knocking at my door," Bradley said and he knew what was coming.

Victor's eyebrow rose and his tossed the bulb away. "Well," he mused, "Wade's gone." He moved forwards and Bradley tripped, falling onto the couch and Victor held his gaze.

"I'm not afraid of you Victor," Bradley said as he grabbed the glass of whisky. He downed the drink in one go. "I'm not afraid of dying."

Victor clocked his head to the side. "How do you know?" he asked sarcastically. "You've never tried it before?"

Bradley stared back at him and Victor slashed his nails across him, plummeting the whole funfair into utter darkness.

Lillie awoke in a cold sweat, something wasn't right. That feeling she'd had for the past few hours had disappeared. Her limbs and her heart had felt warm and soothing, now they had been replaced with numbness and...

She touched her chest, her hand over her heart, as if someone had cut that warm sensation out of her. 


End file.
